Coming Soon!

JODI SAYS: I have to do advanced tomorrow because I work until 5 and have an hour commute. Tricky tricky!

Well, actually the 1 hr challenge would be easier. It would be chili for the main dish along with green beans and carrots for the side - all stuff I canned last week at the county cannery. Apples with peanut butter would be the appetizer and some spice cake mix that I already have portioned out for "cake in a mug" would be the dessert.

The REAL challenge would be getting several days dishes washed and the house tidied up before someone showed up!! (Love canning season! It's so easy to prep foods and keep up with the chores. NOT!)

I think I am making meatless spaghetti, salad, Itallian Bread Machine Loaf (I'm not doing the 1 hour), pearsauce(that I made yesterday), and for dessert I'm making some kind of pudding dessert. That should be easy tidying up my house may be a different story.

This is an easy-breezy one for me! Since I already have menus planned for about a month out....Today's dinner is sloppy joe over whole wheat corn bread, and I would just modify to use tvp instead of meat in the sloppy joe (I've done it before, and my kids don't notice the difference!!) For the sides, I would use fresh carrot sticks with ranch and marinated green been and garbanzo salad. For dessert, I would probably bake cookies. Setting the table is pretty easy, I have one of my boys who LOVES that kind of thing, and wraps up the silverware in napkins and everything if he gets a chance. =)

I think I will make spinach lasagna with corn that was canned last week as a side dish with a nice jello and fruit salad. For an appitizer I would have fresh vegetables from the garden with some dressing for a dip. I would make an apple pie from the apples that I canned last week. Thanks to canning season. My kids would set the table, they enjoy doing it.

I'm excited about this one, i've had some vegetarian recipes I haven't tried out yet that i'll fix. Honey soy lentils for the main dish (from crockpot365 blog), quinoa, maybe hummus...none of which my fam has had before. Like Darlene, the toughest part would be/will be getting the house clean...2 weeks of illness including 2 ER visits mean my house is even more of a disaster than usual. :) But i'll use this as motivation to get something done!

Question: is boss vegan? Dessert could be quite a bit harder if no milk products or eggs allowed, although I think I saw a Dole recipe for pineapple crumble recently that didn't use either, hmm, maybe I could find it. And yes, i'm the kind of gal that cooks new recipes for company, although it can be a bit of a gamble.

Oh yeah, and if vegan no gelatin, it's an animal byproduct. Usually made from pig skin (not kidding). So not kosher either.

JULIE: I'm just doing a meatless dinner - boss is okay with milk and egg products. I think I might "actually" invite someone over for dinner since I'm doing all this work! Now to think of what I'm making. I'll post pictures later for sure!

Sarah not from the skin, it comes from the collagen in cow or pig bones, hooves, and connective tissues. There are vegetarian and Kosher gelatins that come from fish bones or plant sources.

mmmhhhh, now this will be a challenge for me, even though I make soup and sandwhich (grilled Cheese)...lololol....but so far no meatless big-all-out meals......WOW....this is really getting me thinking now....
The help from the kid(college one) is not a problem, house will be picked up, table be set and all else be done...except the cooking....

Spaghetti with marinara (or maybe fettucine alfredo, haven't decided), homemade bread, salad, some steamed zucchini from my mom's garden, and I think cupcakes for dessert. This is all contingent on something that I will find out in an hour though. If that emergency comes up it's going to be toasted cheese and soup and brownies.

I am excited and ready for this challenge. I live with my in laws and it's their night to cook but sometimes they go out to eat so now i have a back up plan if they do.

Appetizer is going to be homemade tortilla chips. Main dish is pesto noodles. Sides will be salad with candied pecans and raisins with this yummy citrus dressing and steamed cauliflower. Dessert Apple cobbler from the crock pot. YUMMY.

Now if in laws stay home. This wont happen but I am pretty sure they are going out. Plus at least I know i could do it if it came down to it.

Just to make it fun Cobbler in a Dutch oven. Don't see much reference here to the official Utah state pot.

I was going to do it in the Dutch oven but I am living with in laws and they don't have one and mine is packed up in a box so that is why its crock pot.

Zoo Nana, I read a source which says that commercial gelatin is frequently made with pig skin (think about the gelly stuff that you get from making a ham or pork roast with skin), essentially it is from any connective tissue. And I am aware of Kosher and plant substitutes, just wanted to spark some awareness...if you have someone who is Vegan or eats Kosher, don't make Jello brand gelatin, don't think it's vegetarian, because an animal did have to die to make it, and unless it's kosher brand you won't know if it's kosher.

Thanks for the reply! I hope we haven't turned anyone off Jello for life (although I must admit i'm not exactly craving it right now!)

I, for one, almost like jello now that I know it is related to bacon.

JULIE SAYS: I'm using today's challenge to try out my pressure cooker and make beans from dry to cooked...I'm excited for the challenge, I tend to shy away from trying new kitchen appliances!

how fun! I've only ever boiled or slow-cookered dry beans, and I would love to have a pressure cooker. Good luck!

While milking my goats this morning I was thinking how upset I would be at DH for surprising me with guests with the week I have had! LOL. But I have gotten over it and forgiven him and here is what I have come up with:
Appetizer: Oven-fried Jalapenos and Oven-fried Okra with homemade Ranch Dipping Sauce
Vegetarian Main Dish: New Orleans Red Beans
Side Dish #1: Brown Rice
Side Dish #2: Green Bean and Artichoke Casserole
Dessert: Homemade Pound Cake topped with Blackberries (put in the freezer at beginning of summer) and Freshly Whipped Cream
We always have a nice tablecloth and candles for Friday night so that is covered. The house is in pretty good shape. I just need to freshen up the bathrooms.

Since I'll be the only one here for dinner tonight, I decided to do the challenge in spirit only. I worked out a menu that meets all of the requirements and checked my ingredients. Googling "appetizer + italian" gave me several Brushetta recipes that I'll have to make with canned tomatoes. It's not really a "boss fancy" meal but it works. Yesterday's quarantine left my house company clean.

Sue-Ellen I agree with you about the upset at hubby thing, I was thinking the really challenging part of this challenge would be not getting in a big fight if this happened! In real life my hubby would have to cancel because yesterday we WERE sick and in quarantine.

I never knew that jello was made with pig parts. I don't think I could my kids to eat it ever again if they found this out. My husband is being a dear and has decided that we could do a lovely dinner party out on the deck that he just stained in the begining of the week. That way our guest will not see the missing floor that we are working on. The weather has even worked out for us. It is a nice 78 degrees. It is interesting how much these challenges do reflect what happens. You seemed to plan this one around most of the people that are participating.

Interesting, I'll be brainstorming while in the kitchen. Have an idea but the inspiration hasn't kick in yet. I'll let you know!

I wish I had more inspiring info. to share. I made pasta & beans with meatless sauce, garlic bread and salad. Boring, but still so yummy!

Barter for the diapers, if you are running low. This challenge is a great way to get to know your neighbors better!

I'm excited for this one! After having a baby 3 months ago I haven't got back into my cooking mode so now is my chance. My husband will like it because he will get more than a one course meal (everyday for the past 3 months). We will have Fettecine Alfredo with added sourcream milk and seasonings. Freshly made guacamole with chips and green beans and carrots for sides and a chocolate and carmel cake or brownies haven'r decided yet.

Julie, about a year a ago I discovered that you can can your beans from dry to cooked in 75min for pints and 90 min for quarts in jars in the pressure cooker. Then you can leave them on your shelf and when you need them in a pinch all you have to do is open the jar and warm and you have beans for chili, bean burritos, soups, and more. Hope that helps!

This one was FUN! I have a great Green Chile soup--with chicken if you can if it isn't vegetarian--and I always have the ingredients here--it has always been a success and fresh salsa from the garden--I've got all that--add a salad and Voila!

Now yesterday was not so fun--I've just recently been updating my 72 hour kit and it is such disarray. But it is great motivation to get it back together!

Thanks Julie and Jodi!

appetizer Olive Crisps
grilled portobello mushroom with sweetpotato fries and corn on the cob
dessert - Winter crisp with whole grain crumb topping

I would do a lot better on this one if we hadn't just moved because I usually have a well-stocked freezer. But right now, it only has some chicken stock and some meat in it that that we managed to move! Still, I came up with spaghetti, baked apples for dessert, bread, and appetizer of fresh veggies and dip, ad I forget the second side dished I planned out this morning. But I did have one! [I didn't actually make this since I went to work and came home as usual and we're going out tonight. But I *could* have done it.)